Last July, javelin thrower Rohit Yadav posted an update about his elbow surgery on social media standing against the backdrop of the countdown clock to the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS). “362 days, 7 hours, 12 minutes, 13 seconds,” it read.
A chunk of those days has been wiped off as Yadav, who days ago began some light throwing with the javelin again in his lengthy rehab phase, finds himself in a race against time to qualify for the Games. However, for someone who threw 83.28m a day before his right elbow swelled up, wouldn’t straighten and eventually required ligament reconstruction, Yadav is optimistic he can crack the qualification standard (85.50m) once he returns to peak fitness and sneak in.
Focusing on strength training now while gradually looking to build up his javelin sessions at NIS Patiala, Yadav is targeting a competitive comeback in late May or June. He has circled the Grand Prix in Bengaluru on June 12 for his first real crack at the Paris mark, with the inter-state meet later that month presenting the final opportunity (the cutoff is June 30).
“Fit ho gaya, toh nikal jaonga (If I get fit, I will make the cut),” says Yadav. “I got close to the mark despite throwing with an injury, so I have the belief that I can achieve the standard. When I had done my surgery, it was with the timeline and aim of qualifying for the Olympics.”
All along that patience-testing and oft-times demotivating rehab timeline into its ninth month now, the 23-year-old had a frequent and friendly voice of solace — the reigning Olympic and world champion, Neeraj Chopra.
Chopra and Yadav have been good friends, training partners abroad and competitors. Yadav joined Chopra as the second Indian in the final of the 2022 World Championships. Yadav filled in as India’s hope while an injured Chopra sat out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Yadav was preparing to join Chopra at last year’s Worlds and Asian Games when the injury, ill-timed given the form he was in and the hopes he carried for the year’s marquee events, left him devastated. Chopra, who has been through his share of major injury pauses, ensured he wouldn’t be destroyed through his periodic calls and a visit to the IIS centre.
“He told me, ‘Koi nahi, hota hai aisa, aap positive raho (it happens, be positive). Everyone goes through this. There is no javelin thrower in the world that hasn’t been through an injury setback. Yes, you will feel bad about the timing because there were some big competitions ahead. But you just have to accept it soon’,” Yadav recalled the chats with Chopra.
“He told me that this is the time to think about where you could’ve possibly gone wrong (with the injury) and how you can avoid it in the future. The more you focus on your rehab, the stronger you will emerge. This is what will build your mindset, your character. Everyone will get whatever they deserve, nothing will go anywhere.”
Until then, that thought was difficult for Yadav to digest. Two months before the surgery, Yadav threw his personal best of 83.40m in his Federation Cup win in May. A month later, he won the inter-state meet with 83.28. Coming on the back of a 2022 season from which he took lessons aplenty graduating to the international level, he was looking good for a rewarding 2023 comprising the worlds, Asian Championships and Asian Games. However, the nagging elbow issue, which flared up a day after the inter-state show, threw a spanner in the works. Surgery was the only option for the extent of the tear.
“I had to somehow accept it, although I was not ready to,” Yadav said. “I wasn’t able to find any positives. I was preparing for those big competitions. It is everyone’s dream to play in them, win medals there, make your career and your country proud. No one thinks at that moment that we can win them later too. But, when reality hits you, you have to accept it. I then told myself that this (Asian Games) will come again in two years, and the Olympics is next year.”
At last year’s Asian Games two Indians scripted a one-two finish: Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena. The latter has zoomed ahead in the pecking order of India’s rich javelin talent, and also sealed his Paris spot alongside Chopra. Each country can send three qualified athletes, and DP Manu too is in the mix for India.
“At the inter-state, I had told myself that I will qualify for the Olympics at the Asian Championships. I was also confident of medalling at the Asian Games. Udhar medal aata toh kaun jaane kaisa hota… (had I won an Asian Games medal, who knows what could have been),” Yadav said.
There’s sadness but also learning from this phase. The elbow had been troubling him for a while but, pushed by his coach, he ignored it. He is wiser about listening to his body, while also tweaking his technique. It now has the approval stamp of Klaus Bartonietz, Chopra’s coach who met Yadav in Patiala this week.
“He (Klaus) had been telling me in South Africa to keep my elbow higher; maybe the pain started due to that. When he saw me now, he said your technique looks much better,” said Yadav, who now trains with Parveer Singh.
Yadav is yet to begin throwing full tilt. He is in no rush to do so, nor is he getting impatient about returning to competition mode with the clock for Paris ticking.
“When I will get into a competition, I want to be fully ready and prepared for a big throw,” he said. “I’m confident my throwing technique and power will be back. I am already starting to feel it.”
